Once Bitten, Twice Shy
by atotalRPGfan
Summary: Queen Erica has finally gotten her life on track after her captain left her five years earlier. However, when he decides to return to Albion, all the feelings she thought gone are suddenly yanked to the surface once again, along with years of pent up anger. Even so, her life is not the same as it was before. Is there still a place for the two of them or is it simply too late?
1. Prologue

_AU: Hello! So there were a lot of people who wanted me to continue expanding on my __**Forever and Always**__ one-shot, so I tried taking a stab at it. I'm not going to continue from that story itself as I liked the way that it ended and I want to leave it as such. Instead, I'm bringing you an entirely new story. The prologue is similar to FaA, but I altered a few details to fit with the new plan I have for this story._

_I hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think!_

_PS: I'm still writing All is fair…These chapters have been done for a while now and I thought it time to post them_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Fable or the characters contained in the Fable universe or any of the lyrics used. All rights go to their respective owners._

_No one ever told me_

_it would come to this_

_What began with such a promise,_

_would end with such a twist_

_I lean into the whisper,_

_but I don't hear a thing._

_When a heart breaks – Dave Barnes_

_Prologue_

Erica sat at her mahogany desk working through the never-ending stacks of papers in front of her. She was reading through a particularly boring tax state when there was a loud rap on the door.

"Come in," she called, not bothering to turn around. She heard the door creak open and the footsteps of someone entering the room.

"Please tell me that you're not here to complain yet again, Hobson," she sighed, assuming that the footsteps belonged to her rather annoying aide. _What I won't give to get Jasper back,_ she thought wistfully. "Because if I hear one more suggestion on how closing down the Academy would fill the already overflowing treasury, I might just feed you to a balverine."

"Is that anyway to greet an old friend who so happens to be a devilishly handsome former captain?" said the teasing voice that she never expected to hear again. She jumped up and whirled around, causing a few papers to tumble to the floor.

He looked exactly the same as the day when he left. Blond hair, artfully, yet carelessly tousled, clear blue eyes twinkling with mirth and that roguishly handsome face pulled into an arrogant, yet charming grin that could net him almost anything out of anyone.

"Benjamin," she said simply. Her voice conveyed absolutely no emotion.

"Hey, Princess," he said with that infuriating grin. He was always the only one that she had allowed to call her "Princess", even though she hasn't used that title in about five years.

"What are you doing here?" she snapped.

"Can't I visit my favourite monarch without a cross-examination?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Not since you left for five years without any warning or so much as a letter to let me know that you haven't been killed yet," she replied icily, trying to stop the tears from falling.

_You left, you bastard. You left me, _she added silently.

He had the decency to look sheepish for a moment. "Yeah, that wasn't my most thought through decision," he said, running a hand through his hair.

"What do you want, Ben? I have a lot of work," she sighed and turned back to her work. She heard the thud of his shoes three times before she felt him slip his arms around her waist and turned her face him. Before she could argue, his lips were crashing against hers as he kissed her with so much passion that she feared that she would faint.

Despite the anger she felt towards him for leaving, she'd missed him. Avo only knew how much she missed him. How many nights had she woken up shivering from the cold, wishing that he was there to comfort her like he'd used to?

_She woke up, drenched in cold sweat from yet another nightmare. Since Walter's death she'd been having the same nightmare every night. A shiver ran down her spine as she remembered Walter's face before he passed away._

_Silent tears started rolling down her cheeks as she sat up and pulled her knees to her chest. She was in this position for barely a minute before a set of familiar arms closed around her. _

"_Hey, it's just a dream," Ben whispered as he pulled her toward his chest. "It's alright."_

"_Why did he have to die, Ben? It's all my fault," she whispered as the tears streamed down her face. "If he hadn't been in that cave with me, if I'd helped him earlier…" She broke off as a wrenching sob tore through her._

"_It's not your fault, Rica. You did everything you could," he comforted, gently stroking her back._

_She pulled away to look at him. "I saved everyone in Albion, but I couldn't save one of them that meant the most to me."_

_He kissed her gently. "Rica, Walter knew the risks. It was just like with Swiftie. Sometimes you just have to accept that they're gone and go on with your life, trying to do justice to their memory."_

"_What did I do to deserve you, Ben?" she asked, snuggling into his arms._

"_Well, you happen to be incredibly gorgeous and I had no other immediate offers, what with you acting like a jealous stalker," he joked and she could see the glint of his vexing smile in the dim light. _

_He kissed her gently on her head before holding her even closer. "And it just so happens that I love you."_

"_I love you, too."_

Finally, Ben broke away and looked at her with that same smile. "I want you, simple as that," he stated and shot her a wink.

She pushed him away. "You can't, Ben. You ended what we had the day you left."

_The faint sunlight streamed into her windows, causing her to wake up. She rolled over and was surprised that Ben's comforting weight was missing. With a start, she sat up and glanced around the room. His soldier uniform was still on the floor after their more…amorous…activities the previous night._

_Now that she thought about it, it was strange that Ben had slept with her the previous night. She'd been having the feeling that they were drifting apart. One day he'd stopped being the chatty, optimistic man he'd always been and started avoiding her. When he'd shown up at her door the previous night, she'd been so happy to see him that she didn't question it at the time._

_Suddenly, it hit her. "That bastard," she hissed and threw on her nightgown. It must have been quite a sight as the queen of Albion, wearing nothing but a satin nightgown, ran through the castle to the barracks, her hair in disarray and a scowl on her face._

_Her fears were confirmed the moment she broke open the door. Ignoring the lack of clothes, the proof that he was really gone was things like that his Auroran beads that she'd given him were missing as well._

_Uttering another stream of curses, she teleported to the Sanctuary and after throwing on a set of clothing, she teleported to the Bowerstone docks. _

_She scanned the still quiet dock. Sure enough, she spotted his blond head near the benches where people were waiting for the next boat._

"_Ben!" she cried, trying to keep her voice from breaking. He whirled around and looked at her, his eyes widening._

"_Princess! What are you doing here on this dreary morning?" he asked lightly, coming closer. Despite his tone, she could see the panic and shame in getting caught in his eyes._

"_I could ask you the same thing," she retorted, crossing her arms._

_He looked to the ground. "I'm not cut out to be a general, Rica. I want to see the world," he muttered, dropping his cocky attitude for once._

"_Is this about what we talked about the other night?" she asked, her blood chilling. Had she scared him off?_

_He shifted his gaze to her face and gave a shrug. "Partly."_

"_Are you running because I told you that the advisors are expecting me to marry soon?"_

"_You deserve someone better. You deserve someone better than a two-bit scoundrel," he replied._

_She grasped his hand, pleading with her eyes. "I want you, Ben. I __**love**__ you." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "You promised you wouldn't leave."_

"_I'm sorry. I guess…that's just another promise I can't live up to."_

"_When did this go wrong, Ben? When did you stop loving me?" she asked quietly._

_His calloused hand cupped her chin gently and his blue eyes were burning with intensity. "I still love you, more than anything."_

"_Then why are you leaving?"_

"_Because I…I need to go see the world. I can't stay here any longer. I've already overstayed my welcome." The boat signal rang through the dock, sounding the five minutes before its departure. "I have to go." He pulled her against him and kissed her softly. _

_It was over much too soon._

"_Please…don't leave me alone…" she pled, grasping his hand even tighter. As she said those words, the skies opened up and a torrential downpour started._

"_I'm sorry," he whispered, the rain almost drowning out his voice. Then, he was gone. _

_She stood in the rain for hours. After the rain had started to slow down, she returned to the castle, shut the door and fell against it, streams of tears flowing over her cheeks._

"Ben, I thought I knew you. I thought you loved me, but you left…" she started, catching her breath.

"Erica…" Ben began, but she cut him off.

"I waited for a letter, a package, anything, just so that I knew that you were alright, but none came. You said that you loved me, but it's clear that you didn't mean it. And ignoring that, I thought that we were at least good enough friends that you would give me a sign that you were still alive." She was steadily becoming more and more angry with his presence.

_How dare he come back! After everything I went through…After everything __**he**__ put me through…How dare he come back and ruin everything!_

"You cut your hair," he remarked suddenly.

She looked at him, startled. "What?!"

"You cut your hair. Why?" he asked quietly.

She fingered her chin-length strands of dark hair. "You said that you liked my hair long and when you left…I didn't want to be reminded of anything about you, so I cut it. Cutting it also made me feel like I was giving you a reason to leave because there sure as hell wasn't anything else I did wrong. Besides, I like it more this way."

"I told you that it wasn't your fault. It was mine," Ben countered.

"Was it really, Ben? There had to be a reason that you forgot your promise to stay with me and go gallivanting around the world," she said, crossing her arms.

"It was getting too serious for me…I've never known how to handle being in a long-term relationship and then you…you were so damn perfect and amazing." His blue eyes avoided hers. "It was too much for me to handle…My feelings…What I felt for you scared me witless. I had to get out before I hurt you."

"You did hurt me, Ben. More than anyone else ever has. But…if your feelings scared you, why did you say that you loved me in the first place?"

"I knew I loved you and that I always would. Deep down, I always did, but when you started talking about marriage…I realised that I would never feel this way about anyone else and that scared me…" He trailed off and sighed. "I was scared that I couldn't be the man that you needed or deserved. I didn't know if love would be enough."

She took a deep breath to calm her shaking body. "I know that was part of it, Ben, but I'm going to need a better explanation than that. For Avo's sake, you left me like some cheap whore in the middle of the night, you arse!"

"I didn't deserve you, Erica!" he exclaimed and threw his arms into the air. "Do you know how it felt watching those nobles staring at you as you walked past them, knowing full well that they were ten times more perfect for you than me? I thought that if I left, I could get back to my adventuring and you could find a man to settle down with. We'd both be happy."

His ice blue eyes bored into hers. "But I was wrong….so incredibly and unbelievably wrong. It took me five years of soul-searching and wandering around to realise exactly what I'd left behind and that I would never be happy without you."

"So did you come back expecting that everything would go back to it was? Did you really think that I would allow you another chance after what you did to me!?"

A sheepish smile spread over his lips. "Sort of. I was an idiot for leaving-"

She looked at him, disbelief flooding her features. "I loved you, Ben! You were all I ever needed! I told you that **you** were all I wanted and I meant it. But for you to come back here, after I finally pulled myself together and got over you…Avo, Ben! I knew you were bloody selfish after the way you left, but this? This is too much even for you!"

He took her hands in his, his piercing gaze never leaving hers. "I know what I'm asking is insane, but could we try again?"

At his words, she couldn't hold back her anger anymore. Her fist flew out and connected with his chin with a loud crack. With a startled cry, he took a step backward and gripped his rapidly swelling chin, shock crossing his face.

"What was that for?!" Ben cried in indignation. Erica merely crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow in irritation. "Fine, don't answer that. I got it," he muttered. "What do I have to do to get you to forgive me?"

"Do you really think I can forgive you?" she asked sarcastically. "No one is that good a person."

"Can you at least try?" His blue eyes were filled with an uncharacteristic seriousness.

It took all of her willpower to look away from him. She hadn't realised exactly how much she'd wanted him to come back until he was standing in front of her and asking for the very thing she'd prayed for. Avo only knew how much she wanted to say yes, but five years of heartache was too much to ignore. A part of her still loved him and probably always will, but what he was asking for was too much. "Even if I managed forgave you and wanted to take you back, it's too late."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm engaged," she stated coldly, still looking away. _He had wanted for me to move on, didn't he?_

The hope on his face quickly changed to horror. "Wha….What?" he stammered.

"It happened a month ago. Though I hated you, I secretly kept waiting for you to come back, but…I couldn't wait anymore. The people wanted me to marry, considering the…circumstances," she whispered and took her hands out of his. "It seems everything worked out like you wanted it to."

"What do you mean?" he asked hesitantly. "By circumstances?"

She opened her mouth to reply, but she was interrupted by two flashes of brown hair tumbling into the room, followed by a harrowed looking nanny.

"Mommy, Daniel says that girls can't be Heroes!" her little girl exclaimed, clutching her leg.

"Not true. I said that boys make the bestest Heroes!" the boy interrupted quickly, clearly trying to backpedal.

"I apologize, your Majesty. I didn't realize they could run so fast," the nanny apologized, looking embarrassed. "I didn't mean for them to interrupt."

"It's no trouble, Wendy. I'm always glad to see my two little darlings." Erica crouched to look her two children in their startling clear blue eyes. "Daniel, don't forget that Grandmother Sparrow was the greatest Hero in the history of Albion. And Elizabeth, sometimes you need to ignore your brother or at least realize that he's trying to rile you up." She shot a glance at Ben. "Believe me, I know how it feels when someone is trying to get a reaction out of you."

"Hey, it was fun to rile you up," Ben cut in, a huge smile on his face. Only Erica knew him well enough to recognize the realisation and shock in his eyes.

"Yes, well, I made my point. Why don't you two go play outside? I'll be right down," she said to her children, getting to her feet.

"Alright!" they cried in unison and ran out the door. She closed the door carefully, trying to postpone the inevitable storm. Finally she had to turn around and she saw that Ben's entire face was filled with shock.

"Why…why didn't you tell me?" he whispered.

"How could I have told you? I had no idea where you were. Ignoring that fact, I didn't expect you to drop your little adventure to settle down and help me raise our children," she replied, wringing her hands. She couldn't stop an accusatory note from creeping into her tone. "You certainly didn't seem eager to stay."

"When did you find out? How far were…" he trailed off.

"I was already four weeks late when you left." She walked to the window, turning away from him. "Do you understand now? Despite allowing prostitutes on the streets, the child labourers and exuberant taxes during Logan's reign, people were appalled by an unmarried queen with two children out of wedlock. I tried to postpone it, but eventually, I gave in. Besides, Beth and Dan deserve a father."

She heard Ben coming to stand behind her. "Just like I deserved to know, Erica. I deserved to know that I fathered twins. Where do they think their father is? Did you tell them that I abandoned them?" he said quietly, the anger evident in his voice.

She turned around and looked him in the eye. "They've never asked. They're still too young to understand that everyone has a father and a mother. However, it's only a matter of time."

"So you thought it a good idea to get engaged to some noble?" Ben accused.

"What did you expect me to do for five years? I didn't know when you were going to come back, or **if** you were ever going to come back," she retorted. "Don't you dare pin the blame on me, Ben. Don't dare imply me that **I'm** the one who is in the wrong!"

Ben gripped her hand and looked at her earnestly. "Can you at least tell me who it is?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Sebastian Wilkins. You don't know him," she replied coldly

"Do you love him?" he asked suddenly, still not releasing her hand.

She looked away from his piercing gaze. "He's good to me."

A calloused hand gripped her chin as he forced her to look at him. "Do you love him?" he asked again, his eyes searching for something in hers.

"No," she said evenly. "Not in the way I loved you. But looking at the way that ended, that might not be such a horrible thing."

Suddenly, he went limp. His hand dropped uselessly to his side and he sagged against the huge desk. It was disconcerting to see the usually cocksure captain so utterly defeated. Erica couldn't remember ever seeing him so downtrodden. Even after Major Swift's death he'd retained some semblance of determination, even if it was only rage towards those that did it to him.

She could barely hear his next words. "I threw all of this away because of my stupid insecurities and my stupid pride." He looked at her and she could see that his eyes were filled with grief. "I realised that leaving you was a big mistake…but I'd hoped…"

"Ben…" She had no idea what to tell him. Should she tell him that she dreamt of the moment he would come back for every night since he left? _No,_ the tiny voice in the back of her mind said. _He made his decision and you made yours. It's time to move on. Besides, I'm furious with him._

"I have to go," he said suddenly and got to his feet. "It'll be better for you if I just disappear again."

"I think it'll be for the best," she replied quietly. "For what it's worth, Ben, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. But…if you want to stay, I'm sure the army would be glad to have you back."

He flashed her a sad semblance of his usual smile over his shoulder. "I don't think that's going to happen. I'm going to go say hello to Page and the others and then I'll be out of your way."

She started to stop him from leaving through the door, but she stopped herself. That was a chapter of her life that was over.

"Goodbye, Ben," she whispered as he walked out of her life for the second time.


	2. Chapter 1

_As the prologue is so much like FaA, I thought I'd give you another chapter tonight. Hope you enjoy it!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Fable or the characters contained in the Fable universe or any of the lyrics used. All rights go to their respective owners._

_Oh, but that one night_

_was more than just right_

_I didn't leave you_

'_cause I was all through_

_Oh, I was overwhelmed_

_and frankly scared as hell_

_Because I really fell for you_

_Drive By - Train_

_Chapter 1_

Ben couldn't help but feel completely dejected when he left the queen's quarters. When he landed at the Bowerstone dock, his mind was filled with possibilities. For some insane reason, he'd hoped that everything would return to normal.

Of course he knew she'd be furious with him for leaving and he didn't expect her to welcome him with a smile and an embrace, but he'd at least hoped that he could get a chance to fix his mistakes.

She looked exactly the same as he remembered, except for a few new wrinkles around her eyes and her forehead. She still had the same beautiful hazel eyes, curly dark-brown hair and almost angelic features. Even after bearing two children, she also still had her Heroic figure.

She was still perfect, at least to him.

On some subconscious level, he'd always known that he'd hurt her. It was just who he was. He'd enjoy himself for a while and move on once he started to get bored or did something stupid. Or, in this case, got so scared by his feelings for her and decided to run. That and fate had a penchant for screwing him over on a whole new level. However, he had no idea how much it would hurt _him_ to leave.

The first few years of traveling were fun. He'd sailed around to Samarkand, enjoyed the sights of Aurora and made a stop in Bloodstone. The whole time, however, he couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that something was missing. He'd avoided the very obvious answer by owing it to the insatiable wanderlust that he suffered from.

It wasn't until he saw a woman that looked exactly like Erica from behind in Bloodstone that he fully realised how much he missed her. He was so happy to see her doppelganger that he almost ran up to her and kissed her right there before he realised that it wasn't her.

After that, he'd started to see her everywhere. In the shopkeeper's daughter who shared her amber eyes. In the prostitute whose hair curled in the same way. In the feisty adventurer who shared her walk and smile.

For the first time in his life, Ben Finn was haunted by a woman.

Finally, these look-alikes weren't enough to sate his longing. Well, that and the fact that the aforementioned shopkeeper caught him with his daughter and chased him out of town.

It took a long time and a rather embarrassing streak through a very conservative village, but he finally realised that he'd made an enormous mistake by leaving her. When he came to the realisation, however, he already knew that it was too late, but, being the eternal optimist that he was, he clutched to some shred of hope that he could somehow rectify the mistake.

_And now it's too bloody late to fix it_, he thought darkly as he wandered through the streets of Industrial. He had been extremely naïve to believe that she wouldn't move on. Ben still couldn't believe that she was getting married. Or that she had two children for that matter.

Ben never thought that he would be the type to want to ever want children. Though he didn't deny the possibility that there might be more than a few Finns running around Albion due to his previous…ahem…infractions, he never considered settling down to raise them. He still wasn't comfortable with the idea, but seeing those twins, some part of him, a very small part, though, suddenly opened up to being a father. Maybe it had to do with the fact that he was five years older or that they were Erica's children.

With another loud sigh, he trudged to the door that led to the old Resistance hideout. Even though it was highly unlikely that anyone was still there, he might as well give it a shot.

Sure enough, despite all evidence to the contrary, he found Page sitting at her desk as if no time had passed at all. She even wore the exact same frown that she'd worn during the Revolution. For a moment, his bad mood disappeared at the sight of what could be considered an old friend.

"Hello there, Page! Fancy seeing you here," he drawled as he sauntered into the room. "I would have thought that you'd be done with all of this by now."

"Ben Finn. What wild animal dragged you to Bowerstone?" she asked, her tone icy as she barely lifted her gaze from the paper in front of her.

"Oh, dear Page, you haven't changed at all," he laughed as he flopped down onto the chair and propped his feet on the corner of her desk. It always did annoy her immensely when he did that.

As if on cue, her dark gaze flickered to where his feet rested and her frown deepened even further. "Well, you now have the weathered face of an old man. The years haven't been kind at all, have they?" she countered sharply. "Why are you back? I'd have thought that the world would be big enough that I'd never have to see your ugly mug again."

"You wound me, my lady!" he cried, clutching his chest melodramatically. "I'd thought that you'd be overjoyed to see such a devilishly handsome adventurer such as myself again!" His practiced eye discreetly took in the naked ring finger of her left hand. "It doesn't exactly look as if you found someone to replace me."

By now, her eyes were positively blazing with fury. "Yes. Contrary to popular belief, there isn't anyone that has proved idiotic enough to take your position as "person that irritates the living hell out of me"."

"I've always been special," he shrugged, smirking widely.

A dark eyebrow rose in what he guessed was cruel amusement. "Really? The only reason why you're down here in the sewers and not currently tousled in the queen's sheets must mean that you've been replaced there too. You couldn't have been that special then, could you?"

"Please, don't kick a man when he's down," he grumbled, his sour mood returning almost instantaneously. "Who is that bloke anyway?"

"As if I would tell you. You got her pregnant, snuck out of her bed in the middle of the night and attempted to leave without so much as a goodbye. In my book, that's sufficient grounds to never want to speak to you again."

"I didn't know the two of you were so close."

The expression that she currently wore would have reduced lesser men to ashes. "Thanks to you and your departure, I'm the only person left from the Revolution that she could talk to. It was strange at first, but you could say that we bonded over hatred of you."

_Well, it comes to no surprise that she hates me. Nice to gets some confirmation, though. _"Is she happy?" he asked reservedly after a moment of silence.

Page looked taken aback at the quiet question, but she quickly shook it off. "I think so. In the past few years, this is the happiest I've ever seen her. You know how I feel about nobles, but the bloke isn't so bad as they go. He takes care of her in a way that you never did."

He felt like screaming at that moment. Yes, he understood the situation quite well. He made a mistake. It might have been the biggest mistake of his life. But instead of constantly pointing it out, could someone tell him how to fix it instead?!

A strange look glinted in Page's eyes. Was that pity he saw?

All at once he yanked his thoughts out of the pit of despair where they'd be residing for the past few hours. No one _pities_ Benjamin Finn, least of all himself. It was time to stop wallowing and do something about it.

Yes, Erica might be happier with a run-of-the-mill noble than with him and yes, it wasn't likely that she was going to forgive him anytime soon, but he could try to be friends at least. After all, Albion is his home too.

He plastered a wide smirk on his face and got to his feet. "Well, I should be going. Enjoy furthering this dead cause of yours, Page."

"Wait! Are you leaving again?"

He shot her another smirk over his shoulder. "Not even the most stubborn or most stupid donkey hits his head on the same branch twice, dear Page." With that, he sauntered out of the sewers, a plan already forming in his mind.

oOoOoOo

"Are you well, my lady? You seem a bit distracted."

Erica looked up at the man next to her and forced a smile onto her face. She was still a bit rattled after her encounter with Ben the previous day, but she'd thought that she'd hidden it better. "Yes, I'm fine. I apologize. It has been a long week. What were you saying before?"

Sebastian regarded her curiously before looking ahead of him once more. He'd invited her to take a stroll through the gardens to discuss a few wedding plans. "Oh, I was commenting on how much I've been enjoying your company," he said smoothly, a sincere smile on his handsome face.

"I've been enjoying your company as well, Sebastian," she said in reply, still smiling. They continued walking and Erica couldn't help but appraise him out of the corner of her eye. Sebastian was what most women would consider a perfect specimen of masculinity. He had a face that artists would clamour to sculpt, even rows of white teeth and a full head of auburn hair. His physique was also kept in check through rigorous sword training and he was well-spoken and thoroughly educated, as well as humble and sincere. The perfect man to become Albion's king.

He had agreed to the purely political match on his own accord, but yet, Erica couldn't help but feel guilty that she had arranged to be wed to this man while her heart didn't fully belong to him. She enjoyed his company and if they weren't betrothed, she might have been close friends with him. Still, she had no romantic feelings toward him, though she had come to notice that he might feel that way towards her.

_I'll come to love him, _she kept telling herself. _He's the right man to marry._

When they reached the terrace overlooking the army's training grounds, she was quickly pulled out of her thoughts when she saw a familiar blond head among the others.

"You **have** to be jesting," she muttered under her breath as she tightened her hold on Sebastian's arm involuntarily.

"Is something wrong, Erica?" he asked, clearly concerned.

"It's nothing that can't be fixed with a swift kick to the arse," she replied tersely. "Sebastian, I'll see you tonight at dinner. There's just someone I need to take care of before then." She didn't even wait for a reply before gathering her skirts and making her way to the lower terrace.

"Your Majesty! What are you doing here?" one of the guards called when she approached them.

"Good day, Private. Who is that blond man over by the rifle range?" she asked through gritted teeth. _He's supposed to be gone by now!_

A huge smile split over his young face. "Oh, that's Captain Finn! He came back to train us," he said, clearly unable to mask his excitement. "He's travelled over the world and now he's going to teach us all the techniques he's learned."

"Believe me, the only techniques he's learned is how to drink and screw women over," she muttered. "Thank you, Private. Can you go and call him for me?"

"Of course, Majesty!" He signed off a swift salute before trotting away. She had barely managed to get her breathing and heart rate under control when Ben sauntered into her direction, annoying smirk already plastered onto his face.

"Majesty! What are you doing here?" he asked jovially.

"Ben, can we talk in private?" she asked quietly.

"Of course. Follow me." He led her to a small clearing away from the other soldiers. "If you wanted to get me alone to kiss me, love-"

"Shut up, Ben," she snapped. "Why are you still here?"

"You said that that the army would take me back and I decided that it would be a good idea to sign up again. The training standard had become quite embarrassing, really," he said with a shrug.

"But why? You said that you'd leave!"

A blond eyebrow rose in clear amusement. "Then why did you suggest joining the army?"

"Because I thought you were planning on leaving anyway!" She was close to tears by now and hurriedly looked away.

"I was, but then I realised that there wasn't anything better to do now that I've seen the world, so I decided to stay here."

_I thought that I'd finally put this part of my past behind me! _ she thought desperately. Seeing Ben and talking to him had finally given her closure and she'd though that he was out of her life once and for all.

"Don't worry," he said, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. "I'm not here to cause any trouble for you and that other bloke. I'm just here to rejoin the army."

She couldn't help but sigh in exasperation. "Ben, you cause trouble wherever you go. But it's not as if I can banish you from Albion."

"I could always give you reason to," he joked with a wink before turning serious. "There is one more thing…Could I be introduced to Daniel and Elizabeth? I just want to see if I managed to get something right for once. I don't expect you to tell them that I'm their father…I just want to meet them."

As much as she wanted to, it wasn't as if she could stop him from seeing his own children. "Very well. You can join us for dinner tonight. We dine at seven."

"I'll see you then. And, Rica? I promise you that I'm not going to try and get you back, if that's what you're wondering."

"Excuse me if I don't believe you entirely," she said dryly, rolling her eyes.

"Well, then I just have to convince you. But if you'll excuse me, I still have a few drills to run the recruits through before the end of the day."

"Of course." She quickly turned on her heel and headed back to the castle, all the way feeling Ben's burning gaze at her back.

_Not here to cause problems, my arse, _she thought dryly.

oOoOoOo


	3. Chapter 2

_Thank you for all the reviews, favourites etc. I truly, truly appreciate each and every one!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Fable or the characters contained in the Fable universe or any of the lyrics used. All rights go to their respective owners._

_Happiness – The Fray_

_Happiness was just outside my window,_

_I thought it'd crash, blowing eighty miles an hour,_

_But happiness, it's a little more like knocking on your door,_

_You just let it in_

_Happiness damn near destroys you,_

_Breaks your faith to pieces on the floor,_

_So you tell yourself, "That's enough for now",_

_But happiness has a violent roar…_

_Chapter 2_

_The air was filled with jovial music and raucous laughter as the entire kingdom celebrated the new queen's coronation. Erica still couldn't believe that she was the queen of Albion. The prospect of becoming the ruling monarch was something that always seemed far off during the revolution. If it wasn't for Theresa's little warning, she still would have been in a state of denial._

"_Another for you, Princess?" Ben asked, already holding out a tankard of mead towards her. "It's not every day that you become queen."_

"_Thank you, Ben." She smiled widely as she accepted the tankard. Ben took his place leaning against the wall next to her. "What are you doing alone, Captain Finn? I would have thought that you would have some buxom barmaid straddling your lap by now," she remarked coyly._

"_I have my eye on someone, but she's proving hard to impress. I'll give it another try later," he said with a shrug. "Maybe it'll be easier if she gets a few more drinks into her."_

"_Well, here's to hoping." She took a delicate sip of her drink, relishing in the surge of warmth from the mead._

"_What about you, love? Are there no men that caught your eye?" She couldn't ignore the saucy wink that he shot her._

"_Of course…You know how much free time I have on my hands these days," she replied, rolling her eyes. _

"_Come on, love…There must have been __**someone**__ amongst all this insanity."_

_She regarded him curiously for a moment, but opted for taking it lightly. "You're the only man for me, Ben," she joked and rolled her eyes. "Why don't you go see if that girl is ready for you now."_

_A strange smile appeared on his handsome face. "If you insist." Before she could register what was going on, Ben pulled her against him and roughly captured her lips with his. The kiss was possessive and passionate and Erica couldn't help but melt into his embrace. _

"_And? Too early?" Ben asked when they pulled apart, still smiling._

"_It's about damn time," she smirked before kissing him again._

The loud dinner bell downstairs caused her to jerk out of her daydream and she couldn't help but sigh. It had taken Ben all of one day to drag her back to the days of the revolution.

She'd had a crush on the blond captain for the longest time, but she'd been very careful about hiding her feelings from him out of fear of embarrassing herself. Even though she had been twenty-three, she'd known exceptionally little about the world outside of the castle walls, especially about men.

The only man she'd ever actually loved before the revolution had been Elliot. She still felt a slight twinge of sadness when she thought about sending him to his death to save the protestors, but she also knew that he wouldn't have wanted her to blame herself.

She'd gotten over her feelings when she found herself infatuated with the charming, handsome captain. At first she'd felt guilty for entertaining such fantasies about a man who wasn't Elliot, but no matter how she tried not to think about him in that way, she couldn't stop him from occupying her thoughts.

Of course, she didn't admit to anything to the cocksure captain who seemed so worldly compared to the men she'd known as the princess. He'd made her feel safe in the most treacherous of places and there were few people whom she trusted as much as she trusted Ben to protect her.

When he kissed her that night, she couldn't have been more ecstatic that he felt something for her as well.

"Stop this, Erica. Don't allow him back into your head," she mumbled and she got to her feet to go to the dining room. Suddenly she remembered that she had invited Sebastian and Logan to dinner as well and almost hit her head against the wall in frustration.

_This is going to be fun…_she sighed.

When she reached the dining room, Ben was already standing around and eyeing the various pieces of cutlery warily. Erica was surprised to see him bathed, shaved and wearing a clean set of clothes. He'd even dragged a comb through his unruly hair.

She cleared her throat lightly and Ben looked up at her, a lopsided smirk spreading over his face.

"Hello there, Princess. You look beautiful, as always," he said as he bowed slightly.

She decided to let the little title for her of his slide. "Evening, Captain Finn," she said curtly with a small nod in his direction. "It's strange to see you punctual for once."

"A lot has changed in the past few years, love. For example, here **you** are wearing a dress," he countered. He wandered over to the head of the table and pulled out the chair for her. "Here you go, my lady."

"Thank you." She sat down gently and Ben pushed the chair in. She couldn't help but notice that his hand lingered on the back of the chair for a moment longer than strictly necessary. Before she could comment on it, however, the huge door swung open and Sebastian and Logan swept into the room, deep in conversation.

A smile split over Sebastian's face when his gaze caught hers. "Evening, Erica." His brown eyes shifted to Ben and Erica could see a glint of a question directed at her. "Greetings, sir. I'm Sebastian Wilkins."

"Captain Benjamin Finn. I served with Rica here during the revolution," Ben replied and gave Sebastian's hand a firm shake.

Logan regarded Ben with a detached look. "Captain Benjamin Finn," he said coldly. "What a surprise to see you back in Albion."

Ben's face furrowed into a frown. "Logan," Ben said in an equally icy tone. "You're still here, I see."

"Yes, well, I know when someone needs me," Logan countered.

Erica had forgotten how much Ben and Logan hated each other and decided to interrupt before it went too far. "Both of you, please, not tonight."

Logan shot Ben another dirty look before sitting down next to Erica. Sebastian looked confused at their exchange, but sat down on the chair next Logan. "Oh. Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Ben. There are so many rumours about you that I'm very interested to find out if they're true."

"Nothing bad I hope," Ben chuckled and also sat down next to the queen on the opposite side. Erica squirmed uncomfortably for a moment as she wondered how to tell Ben that he was being inappropriate, but settled for leaving it. In the end, he had been one of her best friends and most trusted advisors.

"So, Sebastian...what is it that you do exactly?" Ben asked semi-casually as he leaned back in his chair. Erica couldn't help but wish that the nanny would show up with Daniel and Elizabeth so that they could start eating. At least that would add an extra distraction from the current conversation path that she was sure wasn't going to end well.

"I manage a few businesses, mines and such. Nothing as exciting as being in the army, I'm sure," Sebastian said lightly.

"And do you know how to fight? I'm sure that you've seen how "exciting" our majesty's life can get." Ben said this with the same smirk he always wore, but she could see a strange glint in his eyes.

_Why don't both of you just whip them out and see who's bigger?_ she thought dryly.

"Oh, I know my way around a sparring field. Nothing of her Majesty's calibre, but enough to not get myself killed."

Thankfully, they were interrupted by the appearance of her two children and their nanny before things became even more awkward. Wendy curtsied slightly before nearing the table.

"Can I leave, your Majesty?" she asked, her grey eyes avoiding her gaze. For some reason, the tiny blond girl was never particularly comfortable around her, no matter how much she assured her that she and the twins were very happy with her.

"Of course, Wendy. Thank you." She smiled courteously and the girl curtsied again before leaving.

Daniel and Elizabeth were already taking their places next to Ben and Sebastian respectively and Erica couldn't help but smile at the fact that Daniel was already bouncing up and down in his chair.

"Dan, Beth, this is Captain Finn. He's…" She stopped. How could she introduce him? Their father? The man who left her all those years ago? Her friend?

"You can call me Uncle Ben for lack of anything better," Ben interrupted, smiling widely. "I've always wanted to be an uncle."

"How do you know our mommy?" Elizabeth asked, her blue eyes curious.

"What? She hasn't told you?" Ben feigned immense surprise and grasped his chest melodramatically. "Why I was only the young, dashing and handsome captain that led the Swift Brigade during the revolution!"

She faintly heard Logan mutter something inappropriate and kicked him under the table.

Daniel's eyes widened as he stared at the blond captain. "Are you the Ben that Aunty Page keeps complaining about?"

Ben shot her a hooded look in her direction and Logan tossed a triumphant look at Ben.

"Daniel, stop bothering the Captain," Erica interrupted, her face blazing. There was a thinly veiled question in Sebastian's chocolate eyes and she merely shook her head. Before anything more embarrassing could happen, the servants brought out the platters of food. Daniel and Elizabeth got their specially prepared plates in front of them and the four adults were left to serve themselves.

Throughout all of this, Erica pointedly avoided Sebastian's gaze. She'd never actually told him who fathered the twins and she'd also never told him that she and Ben had been romantically involved. All in all, she'd avoided talking about Ben for five years and she hadn't planned on bringing up the subject anytime soon. Yet, she couldn't keep the secret any longer, especially since the man in question clearly didn't have any plans to leave.

The rest of the dinner was filled by the twins asking Ben an innate amount of questions about his adventuring days. Logan sat in silence, but Sebastian even chimed in now and again with a sincere question of his own, so it was easy for Erica to spend the time quietly thinking about what she was going to say to her fiancé.

When the plates and the table were cleared, everyone started to get to their feet. Logan wandered into the corner to gaze out of the window in thought. Erica guided Sebastian slightly further from where Ben was still entertaining the twins.

"I'm sorry about all of this," she said truly apologetically. "I should have told you-"

Sebastian gently took her hand in his and smiled. "Don't worry so much, Erica. You are entitled to do whatever you want to."

She was still unperturbed and went on. "There's something that I need to tell you. Ben-"

"I'm going to stop you, Erica. You don't **have** to tell me anything. It's clear that you and the captain have a past, but frankly, I don't care. The two of us are going to start a new life together and we can leave our past in the past." His smile grew even wider. "You are a wonderful woman, Erica and I'm thankful for anything that happened to you because they made you the woman that you are. Unless you're having second thoughts-"

"No," she interrupted, an immense wave of relief washing over her. "That's in the past."

"Then I don't see a problem."

"Thank you," she said softly, breaking into a smile of her own. "I'll see you tomorrow."

He kissed her on the cheek. "Goodnight, my lady. Sleep well."

"Goodnight, dear sir." She watched as the tall man quickly greeted all of the other quests before sweeping out of the room. When the door shut behind him, she turned her attention back to where her children were far from being finished with the blond captain. With a sigh, she headed over to them.

"So you were really a pirate?" Elizabeth asked, her eyes wide.

"And you sailed on a ship on the ocean?" Daniel chimed in, his face pulled into an identical mask of wonder and disbelief.

"Aye, matey," Ben growled and winked at them. Erica couldn't keep from smiling at his antics, but managed to hide her expression before his gaze caught hers. "But I'll tell you the whole story at another time. If I can still read your mother's mind like I used to, I think it's time for you to go to bed."

Twin expressions of pleading turned in her direction. "Please, Mommy, can't we stay up?" they asked in unison and Erica had to stop from laughing again.

"You two have lessons tomorrow morning. Besides, Captain Finn has a long journey behind him. I'm sure he wants to go to bed himself," she said simply.

Ben feigned a yawn and stretched his arms above his head. "As usual, her majesty is right on the mark. But don't worry, I'll be sure to visit again."

"Say goodnight, you two," she said, shaking her head.

"Goodnight, Uncle Ben," they said in unison before darting off in the direction of their bedroom. Erica felt a sense of uncomfortable awkwardness at being alone with Ben, but, as usual, she could count on him to fill the silence.

"They are truly wonderful," he said softly and his serious tone caught her attention immediately. A serious Benjamin Finn was a rare enough occurrence to warrant her full attention. "You did an…amazing job, Rica. Really."

"Thank you," she said curtly, not trusting herself to say more.

From the expression that passed briefly over his face, she could see that he was slightly hurt by her short tone and moved towards the door. "I…I'll see you some other time then. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to meet them. Goodnight, Rica."

"Wait."

He stopped and turned to face her, his face so full of hope that she felt her heart twinge involuntarily at what she was about to say.

"I need to clear a few things up before you leave."

"What is it, love?" His voice was filled with the same shred of hope that glinted in his expressive eyes.

Even so, she strengthened her resolve to keep him from crawling back into her heart and head. "Firstly, please cut out the "love" and "Rica" nonsense. We were friends at one time, Ben, but I need you to be proper around others."

"Alright," he said after a moment's hesitation. "Something else?"

"I need to know…Are you planning on leaving?" His mouth opened to say something, but she held up a hand to stop him. "I want to know, because I don't want to deal with two broken four-year-old hearts if you should decide to pack up and go. My feelings have nothing to do with this."

"Rica…Your majesty." He took a step closer and she saw the same serious expression from a few moments ago. "I want to do something right for once. I made a balls-up of things before and I'm sorry. It's exactly because of that that I have no plans on leaving anyone else disappointed in me." Ben reached towards her hand but she yanked it away. This time, however, he seemed to have expected her rebuttal. "If it's alright with you, I'd be happy to remain "Uncle Ben" for as long as you want me to stay around," he continued. "I won't ask of anything more."

She struggled to keep her mask of indifference intact. His close proximity was doing nothing to help her already conflicted feelings. "I'd…love for you to be a part of their lives, Ben. I appreciate that you want to make an effort," she settled for saying.

"Then let me not keep you from them any longer. Goodnight, Erica." His roguish demeanour now firmly back in place, he tossed a smirk and a wink in her direction before sauntering out of the room.

"Goodnight, Ben," she whispered. When Ben was gone, Logan approached her.

"What is that man doing here? Or, a better question would be what are you doing **inviting him to dinner**?" Logan asked, crossing his arms.

"I…He wanted to meet Elizabeth and Daniel," she said finally.

"You told him," he said simply.

She rolled her eyes at him. "He's not a complete idiot, Logan. He figured it out himself."

Logan scoffed loudly at her. "That's your opinion," he muttered. "How long is he intending on staying this time?"

"I wish you two would stop fighting." She ran a hand through her hair in frustration. "I don't know."

"And how many times have you fallen into bed with him since he got back?"

"Logan!" She stared at him in disbelief. "I'm not the type of woman to fall into bed with every second man!"

"Erica, I've known you for twenty-eight years and I've never seen you so absolutely distracted when you are around the man. He has the ability to turn you into, for lack of a better word, a complete idiot."

"I don't have the strength for this," she muttered. "I appreciate your opinion, Logan, but what Ben and I had is over. He wanted an opportunity to meet his children, which I couldn't exactly deny him."

"You are giving him a foothold into your life, Ricky." His normally stern eyes turned soft. "I don't want to see him hurt you again. I wanted to kill him after what he did to you and believe me, if he so much as puts a foot a step in the wrong direction, he's on his way to the afterlife. Even more so if he breaks the hearts of my sister, niece and nephew."

She gave her brother a quick hug. "As much as I appreciate your brotherly concern, I don't want you two to inflame your already simmering feud. Could you just stay out his way, for my sake?" she asked pleadingly. "Despite everything…a small part of me still loves him and probably always will…Please."

"Very well, I won't consciously hunt him down. But don't blame me if he wanders into my path. I might not kill him, but I won't hesitate to show him what I think about his past infractions."

"I understand." She kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Goodnight, Logan."

"Goodnight, Ricky. Please, be careful." Logan left with a strange expression and Erica trudged upstairs as well, her thoughts already filled with questions about whether she'd made the right decision by letting Ben back into her life.


	4. Chapter 3

_Thank you for all the reviews, favourites etc. I truly, truly appreciate each and every one!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Fable or the characters contained in the Fable universe or any of the lyrics used. All rights go to their respective owners._

_Behind these hazel eyes – Kelly Clarkson_

_Seems like just yesterday you were a part of me_

_I used to stand so tall, I used to be so strong_

_Your arms around me tight, everything it felt so right_

_Unbreakable, like nothing could go right_

_Now I can't breathe, I can't sleep, I'm barely hanging on…_

_Here I am, once again, I'm torn into pieces,_

_Can't deny it, can't pretend, just thought you were the one,_

_Broken up deep inside, but you won't get to see the tears I've cried,_

_Behind these hazel eyes…_

_Chapter 3_

A few days later, Ben spent the night in the Cock in the Crown drinking more than a few pints. The Riveter was closer to his house in Industrial, but he was looking for a change in scenery. Well, that and the women there were quite eager to meet Captain Finn and they weren't very…reserved…about their affections. Not that Ben wanted to turn down a lovely woman eager to please him, but he also had his standards.

One could only imagine his immense surprise when Page wandered into the pub, dressed in a blouse with a plunging neckline and a pair of tight pants, her usual array of weapons nowhere to be seen. She didn't seem to notice him as she sat down at the bar, clearly waiting for someone.

Ben watched in amusement as she watched the door, nursing a tankard of ale. The amusement turned to confusion, however, when Erica's fiancé entered through the door and Page got to her feet.

_What are those two doing? _he thought as he slowly took a sip of his drink. He had no idea why Page would be seeing Sebastian, especially in her current state of dress.

As subtly as he could, he moved to a booth in the corner where he could hear their conversation without being easily spotted.

"I apologize for being late. Accounting troubles and such. How are you, Page?" Sebastian asked.

"I'm doing well. Reaver hasn't tried anything improper recently, so…that's always a good thing," Page replied. Her voice sounded off, but Ben couldn't determine why.

"I hope you don't mind, but I invited her majesty to join us."

From her tone of voice, Page clearly did mind. "No, of course not. This is only a business meeting after all."

_And you're dressed like that? Where can I get an invite to that kind of meeting?_ Ben thought and smiled to himself. Clearly, the rebel leader was up to something. Page, while beautiful, smart and strong, wasn't the type to actively try and catch any man and she was practically married to her causes, so there was obviously something else going on. The question was what.

Sebastian got to his feet and headed to the door, while Page couldn't manage to hide the irritation on her face. After deciding that he probably wasn't going to guess what she was up to, Ben got to his feet and wandered to their table.

"Why Page! What a delight to see you here," Ben said smoothly as he sat down opposite her.

"Ben. I'd say it's a pleasure, but I'm not a liar," she replied coldly. "Is there a reason you're here?"

He raised an eyebrow as his smile grew wider. "Can't a man pop by to have a drink with a friend who happens to be in the same pub?"

"I'm here for business. So if you're here for idle chatter, I suggest you go find someone else to irritate."

"You see, I don't quite believe you." Ben eyed her with a knowing look. "Judging from the way you're dressed, I expect a man to be here as your escort."

She paled for a moment before shooting him a furious look. "What I do with myself has nothing to do with you, Finn. I'm going to ask you one more time to leave before I kick you out myself."

"Ah, there's the feisty woman we all know and love. At least tell me why you're meeting your friend's fiancé alone, dressed as the way are?"

"Erica is on her way here," Page countered.

"From what I heard, you didn't exactly invite her along."

"Listen, you overgrown Hobbe-" Her eyes darted to something over his shoulder and a small smile appeared on her face. Ben couldn't quite say that he liked the look of that smile. "You have about five seconds to disappear if you want to avoid her."

Before he could register what she said, a familiar voice interrupted him from behind. "Captain Finn. I didn't expect to see you here."

"Erica, what a surprise," he said as he turned around to look at her. From her expression, she wasn't particularly impressed with him.

_Well, what's new about that?_

"Good evening, Captain Finn," Sebastian said, courteous as ever. "Would you like to join us?"

"I doubt Ben would want to stay. He hasn't exactly proven to have the interest or capacity to understand business," Page commented snidely. "Do you, Ben?"

"Oh, Page, I missed your compliments," Ben shot back. "But you are right. I'm just going to enjoy my drink over there. Enjoy whatever you're discussing." With that, Ben headed off to the counter for another drink. He didn't expect to see Erica tonight and it was enough to put him in a foul mood. What he needed was distraction, preferably in the form of the curvy patron who'd been eyeing him for a while. As usual, it didn't take long for the lovely lady to approach him.

"Excuse me, sir, but are you Captain Benjamin Finn?" she asked coyly, glancing at him through heavily made-up eyelashes. She was pretty enough and clearly had more than a few drinks in her. Exactly his type.

He shot her one of his roguish smiles. "Indeed I am. Would you like to have a seat?"

She sat down and quickly proceeded to ask him the usual questions. When did he get back? How did he feel fighting in the revolution and against the Crawler? Was there a lady waiting for him?

The last question was always asked subtly, but with enough fluttering eyelashes and pouty lips to interest any man.

"Ahh, not at the moment, Desiree and yourself?" Ben always found out if there was a man in the picture and, if so, if he was enough to deter him.

"Oh…I feel so embarrassed to admit this, but I'm married. But my husband has been away for so long…It's almost been a month now. He's a traveling merchant you see, always off to sell the next big thing."

He leaned in closer. "I see…and why are you sitting here with me instead of waiting at home like a dutiful wife?"

A coy smile played on her lips as she leaned closer to whisper in his ear. "I haven't felt the touch of a man in the longest time..."

Ben was just about to reply when a hand came to rest on his shoulder from behind. "Sorry to bother, Captain, but can we have a word?" Erica asked, her lips quirked into an obviously forced smile.

"Can it wait, Majesty? As you can see, I'm entertaining this lovely young lady," he replied through an equally gritted smile.

"Yes, I can see that." Erica turned her attention to the woman sitting next to him who was looking more and more uncomfortable by the moment. "Lady Desiree, you'd best get back home before your father finds you missing."

The woman barely nodded in the queen's direction before practically running out of the room.

When she was gone, Ben turned his irritated gaze to Erica. "Any reason you're chasing away my company for the evening?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Erica merely crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "That was Lady Desiree. She's to be married tomorrow."

Ben pretended to be unperturbed. "Oh? And your point is?"

"Do you know what her father would do if he found his "perfect little girl" plucked before her wedding?"

"Good point." He took another gulp of his drink. "And here I thought you were just jealous."

Her hazel eyes widened slightly. "What? Why would I be jealous of that tart?"

"That tart?" Ben smirked widely. "Why, Erica…You honestly do seem jealous."

"Shut up, Ben," she said fiercely. "Are you honestly doing this right here, right now?"

"Do what, sweetheart?" he asked slyly. "Proving that you still care about me?"

Before he could make another smart comment, she punched him again. The other patrons barely glanced at them, instead going on with their own business.

"Why would you do that again?!" he cried, clutching his face. "Damn it, Erica."

"Because it's so damned satisfying, Ben," she replied, smiling slightly.

He couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Are you going to stop anytime soon?"

"I'll stop doing it when it stops being so damned satisfying," she said simply. "Now, if we're done here-"

"Wait." She turned towards him, clearly irritated. "Why is Sebastian here with Page?" he asked and motioned to the chair next to him.

After a moment of hesitation, she sat down with sigh. "Sebastian often donates money to Page's charities and helps with the fundraising."

"Oh. That's…less entertaining than I imagined."

She narrowed her eyes dangerously. "And what **did** you imagine?"

Ben shrugged, not particularly interested in getting punched again. "Nothing much, just wondering."

"Ben," she said again, her voice taking on a dangerous edge.

"Have you seen what she's wearing? That's not a "business meeting" outfit."

"Whatever, Ben. I don't have time for this." She got to her feet and straightened out her breeches. "Good luck with your…problem."

"You could always help, sweetheart. What do you say? I have a room upstairs," he said, shooting a meaningful look at her.

"Do you want to get hit again, Captain? My fiancé is sitting right there."

"I'm not scared of him," he said, smirking widely.

"He's not the one who is going to break your cheek," she said, steeling her jaw.

As he was firmly enjoying the conversation, Ben pretended to look thoughtful at her words. "You, on the other hand…"

She rolled her eyes. "Ben, I'm trying to get along with you, but you are making it very hard."

"So you want to get along with me?" He knew he was treading on dangerous ground but it had been a long time since he'd had a semi-civil conversation with her.

She blushed slightly. "You're being an arse, Ben."

"Seriously, sweetheart. Friends?" He held out a hand for her to shake, which she pointedly ignored.

"Slightly apathetic acquaintances." Ben almost imagined a smile on her face before Erica turned and headed back to their table.

_Slowly, but surely, I'm going to get there,_ Ben thought brightly as he finished his drink.

oOoOoOo

_Erica was rifling through a heap of papers in the Resistance hideout when a loud clearing of someone's throat caught her attention. She turned towards the noise and smiled widely when she recognised the blond captain._

"_Something I can help you with, Captain?" she asked, trying to keep the excitement from creeping into her voice._

"_The question, love, is whether I can help __**you**__ with something," Ben said and leaned against the wall. "I think you need a break."_

"_Walter and Page want these documents-" she started but Ben interrupted her by placing a hand on her arm._

"_All work and no play makes the Princess a dull girl," Ben said smoothly, trademark lopsided smirk already on his face. "You are coming with me."_

"_Captain-"_

"_No arguments, sweetheart. I'm the senior officer in this room and I'm ordering you to take a break before you keel over," he interrupted in a mock commanding tone with an equally mocking serious expression on his face. "You haven't had a chance to breathe since you got back from Reaver's mansion."_

"_Yes, sir." She smiled as she signed off a salute._

"_Good." _

_Before she could ask what his plans were, he'd already grabbed her hand and led her out the back exit. She couldn't stop her heart from fluttering at his firm and comforting hold on her and was so entranced by the surrealism of being __**touched**__ by the man with whom she was admittedly in love with that she barely noticed where they were going. It wasn't until they entered an abandoned park near the river that she thought to interrupt him again._

"_Um…Captain? What are we doing here?" she asked quietly and he came to stop. She managed to curb a sigh of disappointment when he released her hand and watched him stroll over to a large oak tree._

"_Firstly, stop with this "Captain" nonsense. You're making me feel old and I'm far too handsome and dashing to be feeling old in the company of a lovely lady such as yourself," he said in that light tone of his and she felt a blush creeping up her neck. "Secondly, as for what we are doing here, I want you to guess."_

_She looked around in the early afternoon sunlight, but she couldn't see anything special about the empty area. "I'm afraid I don't understand."_

_He wandered back to where she was standing and motioned to the tree that he was previously standing next to. "What is that?" he asked, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief._

"_That is a tree," she said flatly and eyed him strangely. "I'd think that you knew that already."_

_His smirk grew even wider in what she assumed was amusement. "Yes…but what is that in the tree?"_

_Her gaze followed his hand to where he was pointing and she saw two ropes attached to a plank of wood hanging from one of the branches. "That is a piece of wood hanging from the tree?" She was still thoroughly confused._

"_My dear princess, what you see there is called a "swing". I remembered what you said about watching the Industrial children playing in the park over the castle walls and wishing that you could play with them. I thought it was a good idea to show you exactly what you missed."_

_She stared up at him in disbelief mixed with wonder that he'd remembered her off-handed comment. "Ben, I-"_

"_No argument." Before she could register what was happening, he'd wrapped his arm around her waist and led her to the precariously hanging piece of wood. "Now sit."_

"_This doesn't look safe," she said, but he pressed her down firmly until she was sitting on the seat, her feet a few centimetres above the ground. She'd grown taller from using ranged weapons, but she was still short enough to feel like she was going to fall off. The seat beneath her rocked the whole time and the whole sensation was so foreign that the only thing that kept her from falling was Ben's firm grip on her shoulders._

"_Nonsense, love. Kids play on these things." His expression darkened for a moment. "At least they did until Reaver forced them into labour." The dark cloud disappeared as quickly as it appeared. "Just hold onto the rope, alright?"_

"_Are you crazy? This is too high for a child to sit on!" she argued, but he silenced her with another amused look. Instead, she tightened her hold on the ropes until her knuckles were white._

"_I may have altered it earlier this afternoon for you to sit comfortably, but I promise that it's perfectly safe. Besides, I won't let you get hurt," he assured her and she felt her racing heart calm down at the comforting expression in his eyes._

"_Very well," she stammered slightly before nodding. "What do I do?"_

"_Don't get a fright." He let go of her and she felt her body lurching forward without his support._

"_Ben!" she cried, but before she could fall, his hands settled on her waist from behind._

"_Calm down, sweetheart, I've got you." The amusement was clear in his tone. "Now I'm going to push you, alright? All you have to do is swing your legs to get some momentum. Don't worry about falling."_

_She nodded wordlessly and she felt him push gently against her back. After the initial lurch, she found her body knew exactly what to do and she found herself enjoying herself immensely. She'd never felt so free before in her life._

_She could hear Ben chuckling quietly in the background at what she assumed was her obvious enjoyment. Suddenly she was overcome with a sudden sense of daring._

"_If I jump, will you catch me?" she called over her shoulder._

_He came to stand at the front of her. "Whenever you're ready, sweetheart," he replied, smirking._

_When she felt that she was high enough she barely called out a warning before pushing herself off of the seat._

_She landed in her feet, but her momentum carried her forward and she stumbled into Ben, causing both of them to tumble to the ground, laughing._

"_Well, love, I have to say that you're the first woman who has knocked me off my feet," Ben laughed, his blue eyes sparkling._

_Her giggles stopped immediately when she realised that she was practically straddling him and rolled off of him, her face burning. "Well, knocking you off of your feet is an accomplishment in itself, Ben," she managed, smiling. "I feel honoured."_

"_You are pretty incredible, Erica," he said, glancing at her from the side. "It's not too surprising that you are the one to have that honour."_

_She struggled to come up with a reply to his admittedly flirty words, but a loud commotion saved her from embarrassing herself further._

"_All citizens are to convene at the castle for an announcement from the king!"_

"_Come on," Ben said, suddenly serious as he got to his feet. "This sounds like trouble."_

"What is your decision regarding the floral arrangements, Majesty?" Hobson's nasally voice brought her back to reality with a screeching start.

"Oh...Give me a moment." She inhaled the sweet scent of the huge bouquet of lilies before moving to the roses. "Either one of them is fine, Hobson. I don't exactly have a preference," she said after a while.

"My lady, I don't want the flowers to be-"

She held up a hand to quiet him down. "Hobson, let me make something clear…We finally got the country back on its feet after the whole Crawler fiasco. I don't want to spend thousands of gold on one day. I already agreed to the ballroom for the reception and the huge ceremony by the lake. I'm drawing the line at a million vases of flowers that are going to wilt anyway. A few bouquets are fine, but don't destroy all of our plantations."

Hobson looked nonchalant at her little outburst. "If you say so, your Majesty. If you'll excuse me, I need to confirm with the kitchen about the catering." He left and took the flowers with him.

She merely nodded in reply before falling down on her arms at her desk.

"Wedding getting to be more trouble than it's worth?" a dry tone asked from the door.

"I'm going to kill that man," she muttered and raised her head to look at the person standing in the doorway. Page was wearing her usual expressionless face, except for a slight sardonic smile adorning her lips.

"Your fiancé? Or maybe there is another man you might be referring to?" The former rebel leader sat down on one of the plush chairs scattered around the room. One of her dark eyebrows rose in a meaningful quirk. "I heard Mr Finn is still wandering around."

"Sebastian couldn't annoy anyone to the point of killing if he tried and Ben…Ben is Ben. The person who I'm referring to is Hobson." Erica got to her feet and sat down across from Page. "Though, admittedly, Ben might come very close."

"Why is he still here? It's been close to a month now."

"Apparently, he's pretty insistent on staying around. Officially rejoined the army and everything." She sighed loudly. "At least he's staying out of my way for the most part. I'd have thought that he might try something by now."

Page's smile fell slightly and Erica saw a strange expression crossing her face before it disappeared. "Is he getting along with Daniel and Elizabeth? I assume that might be why he's still here," Page said quickly.

Erica eyed her friend curiously, but decided to leave it alone. "They…They're mad about him. I always thought that he might be apprehensive about children what with his very apparent commitment issues, but he's actually quite…wonderful," she admitted reluctantly. "They can't stop talking about him."

"That's…good, isn't it?" Page said flatly. The same expression crossed Page's face and this time Erica couldn't ignore it.

"Are you alright, Page? It seems like something is wrong," she said carefully.

"No, nothing is wrong." The dark-skinned woman quickly got to her feet. "I need to go."

Erica followed suit, an expression of concern on her face. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, I just need to be somewhere. Take care."

Before Erica could register what had just happened, Page left the room as quickly as she appeared. "Well that was odd," she muttered as she watched the door slam close.

"What was odd?"

She stifled a shriek as she whirled towards the window. "What are you doing here?!" she cried, catching her breath. "Can't you use the door like a civilised person?!"

Ben smirked widely as he sat down on the window sill. "Sorry. I'm used to this entrance way. Still leaving your window open, I see?"

"It's the middle of the day in the middle of summer. Of course the bloody window is open!" She crossed her arms in frustration. "Why on earth are you here?!"

"Calm down, Queenie. I came to ask you a simple question." His smirk grew even wider. "Would you consider allowing me to take the twins on a trip?"

"Ben, as good as you've been around them, I'm not about to allow you to-"

Ben interrupted her by holding up a hand. "Not alone, of course. I'm asking you to come along."

She couldn't help but scoff at his suggestion. "That would be an unmitigated disaster, Ben."

"Why? Because of what happened between us? That's just silly." He hopped off the sill and strolled over to lean against the bookcase next to her.

"No, because I might kill you."

"Ahh, you can't kill me even if you want to."

"Don't underestimate me," she grit out. "And exactly how do I explain a little vacation with my children and my old captain from the revolution who most people suspected I had a relationship with? I'm set to be married in less than six months," she said dryly.

"Bring the ball and chain along," Ben shrugged. "He's not that bad a bloke."

"Excuse me if I don't want the two of you to spend too much time together." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why do you want him to come along?"

He rolled his eyes. "I want to kill him and throw him into a river so that you and I can elope and live a life of sin in Samarkand," he said dryly before he shot her a wink. "In all seriousness, I'm trying to make amends here and to show you that I'm…well, not exactly accepting…but starting to get used to the idea…of you two…getting married."

She couldn't stop her eyes from widening at his words. "I…appreciate that, Ben," she smiled slightly. "I'm glad you're getting to be a bit more mature."

"Let's not get too excited about that too soon, love." He slapped his forehead in mock annoyance at himself. "Sorry, Majesty. The point is I'm trying. So, what do you say?"

"I have to think about it. It would still seem very inappropriate."

"What happened to you, Erica? You very never bothered by appearances. Remember our little vacation to Driftwood?" he said with a very sly and meaningful quirk of his eyebrow.

A blush crept up her neck at the memory, but she tried to keep her face as neutral as possible. "I became queen, Ben. Appearances became important."

"You were a lot more fun when you didn't care what others thought. But anyway…" He headed to the window. "Let me know when you decide."

"You can use the door, you know," she called after him.

Another lopsided smirk flashed in her direction. "And what fun would that be?"

oOoOoOo

On his way out of the gardens, Ben bumped into the last person he wanted to see. The former king of Albion and elder brother of the woman that he did wrong himself.

Ben tried to ignore him, but Logan purposefully came to stand in front of him.

"Mr Finn," Logan said slowly, his eyes colder than usual. "Still sneaking around, I see. But what more can I expect from a man who leaves everything in his life to chase his own selfish dreams?"

Ben gritted his teeth in irritation. "Listen, Logan, what happened between me and Erica is exactly that. Between **me** and **Erica**. I'd appreciate it if you didn't poke that giant nose of yours where it doesn't belong."

Logan's eyes narrowed dangerously and a smirk split over his face. "You see, that's where you're wrong, Ben. Erica is my sister and my younger sister at that, which means that it is my duty to protect her from whatever might harm her, be it mercenaries, assassins or scoundrels who don't have the decency to say goodbye."

"She doesn't need you to protect her. Last I checked, she was the Hero around here," Ben countered.

"Tell me this, Ben. Was it too much trouble to leave money on the bedside table after leaving or don't you usually pay your whores when you're done?" Logan sneered.

By this time, he was so angry that he could barely see. Ben almost moved to hit him, but he stopped himself just in time. "How dare you talk about her that way?!" he hissed. "She's your sister and I loved her!"

"Unfortunately, that's how you treated her. You left her bed in the middle of the night, you left her **pregnant**, to board a ship to Samarkand. If that's your idea of love, there must be plenty of broken hearts all over Albion and yours must be so torn by now that you can barely function." To Ben's annoyance, it almost seemed as if Logan was enjoying torturing him.

_Of course he's enjoying this. This is Logan we're talking about,_ he reminded himself.

"Yes, I made a mistake in leaving and I'm sorry. That doesn't give you an excuse to act so bloody high and mighty, **Highness**. Why the hells are you still here anyway? I thought you were going to leave after Walter's funeral," Ben said, crossing his arms.

The smirk on Logan's scarred lips grew even wider. "Did you honestly think that I'd leave my heartbroken sister alone just after Walter had been buried and you disappeared? You're even more disillusioned and idiotic than I thought."

Ben was starting to lose the tiny hold he had on his temper. _Will I get hanged for shooting the __**former**__ monarch of Albion? Probably. At least that would be a fitting end to this month._

"Listen, you pompous-" He shut up with a yelp and the former king's fist collided with his cheek. _Right, third time this month_, he thought dryly as he rubbed the swelling skin. "Not that smart a move, Logan," Ben warned before lunging towards him. He moved to return the blow, but Logan stepped out of the way just in time, causing Ben to tumble to the ground due to his momentum.

"Stay away from her, Captain. If I catch you hurting her again, I'll be the one to drive a sword through you." With this, Logan strode in the opposite direction as if nothing happened.

Ben got to his feet, curses dropping from his lips as he tenderly touched his bruised cheek. "Yep. I definitely have a mental problem to have thought that coming back was a good idea," he muttered as he made his way home.

oOoOoOo


	5. Chapter 4

_Thank you for all the reviews, favourites etc. I truly, truly appreciate each and every one!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Fable or the characters contained in the Fable universe or any of the lyrics used. All rights go to their respective owners._

_I can barely say – The Fray_

_I wanna return, but all you would do is turn to leave_

_If I can find my way home, will you take hold of me?_

_I've been gone so long, I can barely say_

_All I know is now I want to stay_

_Has it been too long, since I went away?_

_Cause im trying to find the words, but I can barely say…_

_Chapter 4_

_Ben whistled merrily as he headed back to his house. After Erica's promise as to make him dinner for his birthday after missing it because of a trip to Aurora, he had enough reason to hurry back to his house in Industrial._

_He was mulling over the more…creative…ideas for a birthday present when his very active imagination was brought to a sudden stop at the moment that he opened the door. Apparently, it was too much ask that she didn't burn down his house. _

_When he burst into the kitchen, ready to extinguish any possible fires, he almost fell onto the floor laughing. Albion's current ruler's dark hair was pulled into a sloppy ponytail on the top of her head and every inch of her was covered in flour. Her bottom lip was worried between her teeth as she stared at what he assumed was a recipe book._

"_Hi, sweetheart…How did you get in here?" he asked, hiding a smile._

"_I picked the lock on the back door…You need to get that fixed if even I could do it," she said without looking up. "What does that mean…" she muttered to herself._

_He bit back another laugh. "That might be so, but that doesn't explain why you're currently destroying my kitchen."_

_Erica fixed him with a look. "I promised to make you dinner and that's what I'm doing. Now, go change. It should be ready in a while." With this, she flung a fireball at the smoke-billowing firewood stove and another gust of cold wind at something that was cooling on the counter._

_He swallowed awkwardly. "Um…I don't think it's safe to toss fireballs-" he started, but she blew him out of the doorway and off his feet with another gust of wind._

"_Get out, Ben. I promise I won't destroy your kitchen," she said before returning to cooking. "And if I do, I'll pay to fix it."_

"_You're not really making me feel better, Rica, but very well." He got to his feet and quickly changed out of his uniform. When he got back to kitchen, Erica had finished setting the table, picked fresh flowers and dished up the food. She'd also changed into a flowing sleeveless dress and got the flour out of her hair, which was now braided to the side. "How on earth did you manage to do all of this in the three minutes it took me to change?" he asked in disbelief._

"_Slow time potion," she said simply, smiling. "Apparently, being a Hero has its perks." She kissed him on the cheek. "Happy belated birthday, Ben. I'm sorry I missed it."_

"_Well, that was my fault for not telling you." Bowing slightly, he pulled out a chair for her and she sat down with a nod of her head in thanks. He sat down opposite her and eyed the spread in front of him hungrily. "Not to sound insulting, but when I saw what was going on beforehand I didn't expect anything looking vaguely edible."_

"_You should know by now that there are still many things you don't know about me, Ben," she said with a wink before eating._

_He took an experimental bite of meat and was surprised at the myriad of flavours that burst forth on his tongue. He let out a groan of contentment and took another large forkful. "Wow, Rica! Where did you learn to cook?"_

"_Oh…you know…here and there…" she said vaguely, avoiding his eyes and he immediately became suspicious. A smirk spread over his face at the realisation that their dinner was too good to be true._

"_I'm really interested to find out more about you. Come on, where did you learn?" he prodded._

"_Oh, it's not that interesting," she insisted and he fixed her with a knowing look and Erica let out a huge sigh. "Fine! Everything I made was either rare or burnt to a crisp, so I ran and bought it from that café in the Market! Happy, Captain Honesty?"_

_The grin on his face spread even wider and he gave her hand a squeeze. "I'm always happy when I find out that you're not perfect. It reminds me that you're not some dream I'm going to wake up from," he said gently, his thumb trailing caressing her hand._

_She blushed slightly before breaking into a shy smile. "You're not too bad yourself, Ben," she said, glancing at him through her eyelashes and biting her lower lip. The sweet look on her face was almost enough to make him jump over the table to take her right then and there, but he managed to keep himself under control. _

_They continued eating in silence for a while before she gently cleared her throat. He looked at her expectantly and she pulled a wrapped package from under her chair before pushing it in his direction._

"_What's this?" he asked, looking at the box with a wary eye. _

_She cocked her head and looked at him in disbelief. "It's your present, of course."_

"_I thought you already gave me my present last night, Rica," he said with a sly look and a wag of his eyebrow but she kicked him under the table and rolled her eyes._

"_This is your real present, or at least something you can enjoy in public." She smiled and nudged the package toward him with her finger. "Go on, open it."_

_Ben eyed her again before tearing into the wrapping paper. He carefully lifted the lid off the box and his blue eyes widened when they landed on the contents. "How…where…why?" he spluttered, looking at Erica in shock. "Where on earth did you find this?"_

"_While I was in Aurora this week. That was probably why no one had found it yet."_

_He gently took it out and ran his fingers over the smooth metal of the pistol. "You know Reaver is going to kill me if he knows that I have this," he muttered as he admired the firearm._

"_You're smart enough not to brag about having it and you use your rifle more often anyway. I thought it could be a nice collector's item," she said with a pleased smile._

"_My very own Dragonstomper .48." He couldn't help the huge grin that spread over his face. "I never even thought that I'd get to see one, let alone own one. But don't you want it? It's the rarest pistol in the world."_

"_I prefer my Red Dragon. Besides, it seems that you already appreciate it more than me anyway," she said with a shrug. "Look at the bottom of the box. There's something else in there as well._

_Feeling slightly excited, he reached into the box and his fingers brushed something leathery. Carefully, he took out the object and another grin spread over his face. "You're setting an extremely high standard here, sweetheart. I don't know if I'll be able to top this." He looked down at the leather-bound book. "The Life and Adventures of Benjamin Finn. I thought I'd never see these pages again."_

"_You were remarkably careless. I found the remaining ones scattered all over Albion in the strangest places. There are blank pages at the back so that you can finish writing your story."_

_He stared in continued disbelief at the book. "This is amazing…I never thought I'd actually see this in the form of a book."_

"_Look at the first page."_

_Glancing at her again, he flipped to the first page and a yellowed letter fell out. "To Ben…This is Swiftie's handwriting," he said incredulously. "How…"_

"_Walter found it the other day amongst his things," she said quietly. "I thought that you-" He cut her off by yanking her to her feet to kiss her hungrily. She seemed stunned for a moment before happily melting in his embrace. When he pulled away, his finger traced her face gently._

"_How are you real?" he asked quietly. "I…I don't know…what to say…This is the most perfect present you could've given me, Rica. Thank you so much," he said sincerely._

_A strange smile quirked at the corner of her lips. "You don't honestly think that those are your only presents?" she whispered saucily as she hooked her leg around his._

_He trailed his hand down from her waist to rest on her thigh. "Are you prepositioning me, sweetheart?"_

"_You are the birthday boy…" she breathed into his ear. Her arms encircled his shoulders as she nibbled at his earlobe and, if possible, she hiked her leg even higher._

"_I'd say that you have one more wish left…" she whispered huskily._

"_Who am I to disregard the sacred tradition of the birthday wish?" he replied, smirking widely before kissing her again._

Ben smiled when he woke up from his very pleasant dream before remembering that it was just a memory. He sighed and pillowed his head on his arms as he mulled over his thoughts.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get Erica out of his mind. She haunted his dreams and recently she'd started to haunt his waking hours as well. He'd thought that maybe it would get easier the more often he saw her, but it had only gotten worse.

"Maybe it'll be easier if I just…left again," he muttered into the darkness. He still loved her immensely and in truth, it was killing him to see her with another man and the knowledge that she was going marry him was slowly driving him insane.

However, he couldn't leave, nor could he admit to his feelings. Not after he'd grown so close to Elizabeth and Daniel and not after he'd finally gotten some semblance of civility out of Erica. More than anything, he wanted her to be happy, even if it wasn't with him. No matter how much he'd wanted to hate him, Sebastian had proven to be a good man and one thing he'd learned about him was that he would be good to Erica and her children.

"I **want** her to get married to some other bloke and be happy." His voice sounded forced even to him and he rolled over onto his side to try and fall asleep again.

After a few more failed attempts, he got to his feet and threw on a set of clothes.

oOoOoOo

For the past days, Erica had had problems sleeping. It didn't matter how many cups of herbal tea she drank or how relaxed and tired she felt when she climbed into bed, the moment she blew out the candle next to her bed and the darkness enveloped her, she became wide awake.

_Maybe it's just because the wedding is getting closer…_ she thought as tossed for what seemed to be the tenth time. She was still fine with the idea of marrying Sebastian, but all the decisions and organizing was making it seem much too real for her.

When the realisation hit her that she was not going to fall asleep anytime soon, she lit the candle next to her bedside to keep the darkness at bay. Ever since the war with the Crawler, she'd never quite been comfortable with mulling over her thoughts in the darkness.

Harry raised his head and stared at her in canine annoyance at the sudden shock of light, but dropped his head onto her legs and fell asleep as quickly as he'd woken up. Erica felt a surge of jealousy towards her elderly faithful friend's ability to fall asleep on a whim, but opted instead to stroke his soft ears to calm her nerves.

Sebastian certainly wasn't the problem. He was the perfect gentleman and Prince Charming that every girl wants to fall in love with and whom every father wants his daughter to marry.

She also didn't have a problem with marriage in general. She was almost turning twenty-nine so she was more than ready to settle down. Plus, Elizabeth and Daniel deserved to be raised in a semi-conventional family. Any normal woman would be thrilled that another man was prepared to marry her and willing to raise a pair of twins that wasn't his.

_Then again, I was never really __**normal**__ was I? _she mused wryly. Maybe the problem wasn't Sebastian or marriage, but it certainly involved **marrying Sebastian**.

"It's just pre-wedding jitters. Get over yourself, Erica," she chastised herself sternly. "This is your one chance at happiness."

"Now that's mighty depressive talk, sweetheart," a quiet voice chuckled from the window.

Harry growled menacingly and this time she couldn't stop from shrieking as she tumbled out of the bed in shock at the presence. The figure quickly approached her and knelt next to her.

"Hey, love. It's just me," Ben chuckled as he held out a hand to help her to her feet. She ignored it and instead opted for shoving him so hard that he fell over as well.

"You **have** to stop doing this, Ben. It's not funny," she huffed as she pushed herself off of the floor. When he started to get up, she kicked his leg so that he fell to the floor with a loud sound of protest. Harry barely gave them anymore attention after he recognised the intruder.

"And you have to stop hurting me. Damn, sweetheart, you're much stronger than you look," he grumbled as he rubbed his injured shin. "Remind me never to make you furious."

"Too late for that." She threw on her dressing gown. "But luckily for you, I'm tired, so all I ask is that you leave, please. I can't deal with you right now."

Ben clambered to his feet and shot her a bright smile. "I thought you'd be upset. That's why I brought you this." In his outstretched hand was a single, slightly crushed sunflower. "I kind of landed on it, but it still looks semi-presentable," he said, his eyes betraying the cocky grin on his face.

She felt her lips melt into a smile. "You know, the way into a woman's good books is not through stolen flowers, Ben."

"How'd you know it was stolen?" He looked honestly shocked for once, but he quickly disguised it, as usual.

"I always knew that the flowers you brought me were stolen. The groundskeeper only stopped complaining about his wrecked gardens when you left." She avoided his eyes by playing with the bright yellow petals. "Why are you bringing me stolen flora in the middle of the night anyway?"

"I saw that your light was on and I thought I'd come keep you company." He plopped down onto the sofa in front of the fireplace and propped his feet on the coffee table. "Chances are you'll be so exhausted from "dealing with me" you'll fall asleep the moment your head hits the pillow."

"You saw that my light was on all the way from Industrial? I applaud your observational skills, Captain," she said dryly as she sat down next to him as far as the couch would allow. "Next you'll tell me that you can spot oncoming attacks from there as well."

"Now now, Majesty. If there is one thing I am quiet apt with, it's spotting a light in the window of a lovely, lonely woman," he said with a sly wink.

The heat of a blush rose up from her neck and she rolled her eyes and shoved him again. "The amount of inappropriateness coming from you is reaching a new record by the second, Ben."

"But for some reason you still put up with me."

"Don't ask **me** why. I'm blaming it on an undiagnosed mental problem."

He quirked an eyebrow and she could make out the glint of a smile in the firelight. "So the only way anyone can stand me is if they have a mental problem? That certainly explains a lot."

"I'm glad you realise it, Captain." She smiled as she hiked her knees up to her chest. "Can I ask you something?"

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Of course, Erica. I'm here to help."

"Why can't you sleep? At least I assume that's why you're up at this hour," she asked carefully.

He fiddled with his fingers as he stared into the fire. "Why can't I just be awake? Do I need a reason not to sleep?"

"Ben, I know you. Whenever you have the chance to fall asleep, especially in a real bed, you pass out and absolutely nothing can wake you up." She smiled slightly. "Much to my annoyance."

The seriousness on his face was interrupted by a fond smile of remembrance. "Hey, that one time you managed to wake me up pretty quickly. I'm still sorry that I tore that nightgown. I really liked it."

"Stop that," she muttered as she felt another blush redden her face.

"What? Making you blush? Sweetheart, ignoring the fact that you are adorable when you do, you've done quite a few things that could elicit a blush. Remember-"

"Stop right there. You're changing the subject," she interrupted quickly.

He chuckled slightly before shrugging. "Hey, I was dead tired and having a pretty pleasant dream. According to all the signs, I should be fast asleep right now."

"If you don't want to talk about it, fine," she huffed and crossed her arms over her knees in annoyance.

"That was the problem," he said quietly after a while of silence. "I woke up."

She regarded him with a sideways glance. "That's no reason to trudge over here, is it?"

For a moment, he looked as if he was going to say something but then he opted for folding his arms behind his head. "You don't want to hear about my tales of woe, Majesty. I'm here to listen to **your** problems."

"I don't have any problems, Ben. I just can't sleep."

"And you impending nuptials have **nothing** to do with this," he asked sarcastically. "I believe you completely."

A sudden rush of anger washed over her and she got to her feet. _What a stubborn idiot!_ she thought to herself. "I don't want or need sarcasm, Ben. If you're going to be difficult, why don't you just go? And please don't climb through the window again. It would be awfully difficult to explain your presence to anyone else."

"Sorry," he muttered as he ran his hand through his hair. "That was unnecessary on my part." He stood up as well. "There is actually something that I want to tell you. Have you seen that strange symbol in those woods behind the castle?"

She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Why on earth would I have been in the woods behind the castle? Or, for that matter, what were you doing there? There's nothing out there."

He waved his hand flippantly. "Not important. The fact is the symbol sort of resembles your guild seal, that's why I'm asking."

"Oh?" She was genuinely surprised. "Could it be a Cullis gate?"

"And I know exactly what that is…I just thought you'd want to know." He signed off a quick salute before heading for the window. "I can see I've overstayed my welcome. I'll see you later, Majesty."

"Wait, Ben." She cursed him silently for piquing her interest so much. "Would you mind showing me where you saw it? Tomorrow morning?"

From his smile, she reacted exactly how he wanted her to react. "Sure. I'll come pick you up at around ten." Before she could change her mind, he'd already leapt out the window.

"That man is going to mean the death of me," she muttered as she climbed back under the sheets. Thankfully, this time sleep came quickly.

oOoOoOo


End file.
